Director of Operations and Grants Management

About The Role

The Panta Rhea Foundation’s Director of Operations and Grants Management is responsible for building the operational infrastructure across finance, human resources, compliance, risk management, IT, and grants management that supports the Panta Rhea Foundation to achieve its mission and live out its values. They are the primary owner and steward of process and structure, working closely with the Executive Director, the board of trustees, Torreyana (our finance back office support), and Marin Community Foundation (our DAF holder), to realize the implementation of organizational goals and the theory of change in the US, Caribbean, and Americas. Reporting to the Executive Director, this position will manage a small team of administrative, grants management, and partnership staff, helping to set organizational culture and uphold values and impact. The selected candidate must be based in either the United States or Mexico.

About Panta Rhea

The Panta Rhea Foundation supports Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and other communities building power and regenerating nature across the global south. The Foundation mobilizes resources so our partners can realize community-based solutions for social, gender, economic, and environmental justice.

The Foundation adapts and evolves our strategies based on the local needs and insights of the dynamic communities we support. We build long-term partnerships, and also mobilize our networks when needed for rapid-response funding. We embrace community-centered, culturally-appropriate grantmaking processes that build collective power, self-determination, and long-term positive change. Above all, we trust the wisdom of our partners, and we aim to center their experience, culture, aspirations, and creative practices in all of our work.

Panta Rhea is moving through a new Theory of Change process and is adapting systems, processes and ways of working accordingly to incorporate new and evolving partnerships in the Caribbean and the Americas. This is an important moment of change and growth in an increasingly complex philanthropic and socio-political environment. The ideal candidate will bring the flexibility, adaptability, and change management experience necessary to navigate this moment of transformation.

Responsibilities

Grants Management

• Steward the grants management process through projections, approval, disbursement, and closure, setting and implementing standard operating procedures.
• Provide a high level of service for all grantees and ensure prompt disbursement of funds and clear and kind communication with grantees, in collaboration with the Regional Partnerships Manager and other support staff.
• Prepare board dockets and steward the approval process for all grants, supporting quality, controls, accuracy and compliance.
• Serve as a primary point of contact with DAF and equivalency determination providers, working closely to ensure excellent stewardship of funds.
• Serve as the administrator of Panta Rhea’s grants management database, setting and overseeing procedures that produce high data quality and record institutional knowledge.

Finance and Accounting

• Own the finance and budgeting processes for Panta Rhea, producing and monitoring against grantmaking and operating budgets and working directly with the Board and finance committee to enable fiduciary oversight
• Work closely with Panta Rhea’s accounting vendor, Torreyana, to produce regular financial statements.
• Create, implement, and support team members to comply with internal controls.
• Monitor cash flow in Panta Rhea’s donor advised funds and bank accounts, proactively planning use of resources across the year.
• Align financial plans with theory of change, ensuring that organizational resources match desired impact and that goals are informed by financial reality.

Operations, IT, and Human Resources

• Serve as the internal contact for operational questions, including supporting external vendors with audit and tax requirements and the Board with governance and registration requirements.
• Act as the internal head of human resources for Panta Rhea, stewarding organizational policy through the employee handbook.
• Manage the administrative assistant as well as relationships with outsourced operations, IT (e.g. managed service providers), and human resources (e.g. professional employment organizations, employment lawyers) contractors and services.
• Manage institutional knowledge through Google Drive & Microsoft Suite, creating clear structures for document storage and retention
• Support the organization in establishing protocols for and responsible implementation of AI tools and strategies
• Bring a human-centered and values-driven approach to human resources and operations, ensuring equity and inclusion are woven into policy and practice.

Planning and Process

• Create and steward the organization’s annual work planning and budgeting process, ensuring that the story of the organization’s work and desired impact is clear and consistent and that resources match goals.
• Together with the programs team, regularly evaluate progress against organizational success metrics and indicators of progress, supporting changes of strategy when required.
• Provide regular training and support to staff members on organizational policies and procedures.
• Support consistency and compliance through development and implementation of standard operating procedures in concert with programs team and consultants.

Compliance and Risk Management

• Maintain familiarity with US IRS rules and regulations for private foundations and for grantees, and respond to reflect changes to the compliance environment in PRF’s grantmaking processes.
• Serve as an internal expert on grantmaking regulations and processes in Panta Rhea’s regions of interest, maintaining familiarity with the environment for philanthropic giving across Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Create, support and implement holistic risk assessment and mitigation processes for Panta Rhea, ensuring the preservation of mission, values and core approaches.
• Ensure Panta Rhea staff and board are familiar with and supported by policies, processes, and tools to enhance safety and security

Requirements and Qualifications

The successful candidate for this position will bring the following:

• Strong experience and contextual knowledge working within international philanthropy focused on Caribbean and Americas, with knowledge of the US philanthropic context
• At least ten years of experience across a combination of operations and grants management, with a preference for work within small foundations
• At least five years of experience in people and team management
• Deep commitment to Panta Rhea’s values and strategy, with roots in human rights and justice frameworks and movement building particularly in the Caribbean and Americas
• Excellent relationship building skills, with an ability to build rapport and trust across power dynamics and cultural difference
• Demonstrated ability and experience creating and monitoring budgets and financial performance
• Experience with at least some of human resources, risk management, information technology, knowledge management, and compliance
• Excellent systems and process skills, with an ability to both define clear process and manage change to implement new systems
• Strong organizational skills; an ability to track and manage many different tasks and projects with different levels of priority and urgency
• Experience managing relationships and work with external operational vendors
• Experience working with communities in proximity to Panta Rhea’s grantees in the Americas and/or the Caribbean
• Significant experience working with Google Suite, Microsoft tools, and at least one database system (Salesforce, Fluxx, GoodGrants, etc)
• Familiarity with AI tools, best practices, and ethics considerations
• Fluency in English and Spanish required
• Located in the US or Mexico

The following are also ideal qualities and experiences for the position:

• Significant experience working with boards of directors and trustees
• Expertise (as demonstrated through both experience and certifications) in HR and/or finance
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing MEL and planning structures

Salary and Benefits

The annual pay range for this position is $120,000 - $175,000 commensurate with experience and location. In addition, Panta Rhea offers generous holidays and vacation time, covers health insurance premiums for employees and dependents, provides a remote work stipend for cell phone and internet, and has a company 401k retirement program. Equivalent benefits are provided both inside and outside the US.

In addition, Panta Rhea offers generous holidays and vacation time, covers health insurance premiums for employees and dependents, provides a remote work stipend for cell phone and internet, and has a company 401k retirement program. Equivalent benefits are provided both inside and outside the US.

English language fluency; Spanish fluency highly preferred.